Volleyball committee in high spirits

Maseru – The newly-elected Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) committee is in high spirits after the volleyball league commenced last weekend at the National University of Lesotho (NUL).

The 2017 volleyball A-Division campaign will be played in mini tournaments over the course of the year and the team with the most points from the tourneys will be crowned champions at the end of the season.

LVA public relations officer Buller Phalatse said last weekend’s games, which were the first since the new executive took charge in March, were marked by high spirits and exciting competition.

“Compared to last year’s performances, this year’s performance was high and we saw a big improvement in the tournament; we even saw new faces from different teams and that is promising,” Phalatse said.

“I think the standard of playing was uplifting and promising,” he added. “The teams have not yet reached the standard that we as the association are expecting but we are hoping to see improvement by the end of the league.”

The LVA A-Division is divided into men’s and women’s sections. Phalatse said the LVA hoped to have eight teams contest each competition but things did not go as planned because Platoon missed the deadline to register for the men’s league.

With each section divided into two groups, it means Pool A in the men’s league will only be contested by three teams, Green Spikes, Mahlaseli and Limkokwing University, while favourites Redskins as well as Lesotho Mounted Police, Lesotho Defence Force and Rovers will make up Pool B.

The women’s league, meanwhile, has a full complement of teams with two pools of four teams.
Phalatse, however, said the LVA remained buoyed thanks to the start of the B-Division this coming weekend.

He said the association is looking forward to seeing new teams when the league’s first mini tournament gets underway at the Lerotholi Polytechnic sports grounds.
“We are expecting new teams from villages to participate in the B-Division,” Phalatse said.

“Even those teams which did not register for the tournaments, all the doors are open because this is the developmental stage (of local volleyball) and we want as many teams as possible to come and register.” Registration for the B-Division will close on May 13.

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